Evaluate President Hoover's efforts to combat the Depression.

Pres. Hoover is, in my mind, more maligned than he ought
to be for his efforts to combat the Depression.  He did more than any other president
ever had to try to use the government's power to help the economy.  However, he did not
do enough to end the Depression.  Worse yet, he did not do a good job of convincing
Americans that he cared.

Hoover was not a do-nothing
president.  He did try lending money to businesses to get them to hire more people.  He
did try to create jobs through public works programs like the Boulder Dam.  The problem
was that the Depression was too deep for his efforts to be
sufficient.

We should note, though, that FDR's efforts
weren't sufficient either.  Not even the New Deal actually managed to end the
Depression.  It took WWII to do that.

I think that Hoover's
efforts were well-intentioned, but insufficient.  The economic crisis was deeper than he
could have imagined and so he did not do enough to end it.  However, what he really did
wrong was that he never talked as if he understood the problems that were going on in
the nation.  This is why he is remembered so badly.